Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute

The Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute is the only public and private partnership focused solely on wilderness awareness, education, and research. The institute was established in 1993 as the research organization for the National Wilderness Preservation System which includes the National Park Service, National Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Bureau of Land Management. An evolutionary timeline of the organization can be found HERE. The organization takes it’s name from Aldo Leopold founder of the science of wildlife management while the term “wilderness” is defined in The Wilderness Act of 1964 as “an area where the earth and community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain” and “an area of undeveloped Federal land retaining its primeval character and influence, without permanent improvements or human habitation, which is protected and managed so as to preserve its natural conditions.” The Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute serves as a scientific resource by which federal agency’s can guide their policies and actions upholding the spirit and provisions of The Wilderness Act.